Richmond Times Dispatch Interviews Jim Webb

By: PM
Published On: 12/4/2006 10:30:55 AM

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The RTD interviewed the Senator-elect last week.  You'll probably want to read the whole article.

Just a few highlights:

When asked how he'd grade the job the Virginia press corps did during the campaign he said "from the primary on, I stopped reading all analysis and stopped watching all analysis."
When queried as to what would be his first legislative effort, he said:

The first thing I want to do is introduce the GI bill for the people who have been serving [in the military] since 9/11.*** Every war era has a different kind of GI bill. But I think the best one for the people serving since 9/11 is the World War II model, where they basically covered all your tuition, any college you can get into, plus bought your books and gave you a monthly stipend.

His preliminary thoughts on Bush's nomination of Robert Gates for secretary of defense:

The things that I've seen about him that I believe are affirmative are he seems to have a very realistic approach to the Middle East, and he was a member of the Iraq Study Group, which gives him a fresh and independent look at the problem.

So I'm inclined to believe that his coming in as secretary of defense might be a signal that the administration is looking for a more constructive way to reduce our presence.

And now just a picture because it finally feels like winter out there:

bec

Comments



Webb is consistently thoughtful and articulate. (RayH - 12/4/2006 10:48:42 AM)


The Richmond Times Dispatch (Bubby - 12/4/2006 11:12:07 AM)
Is not widely read west of Short Pump.  We need to get our man in the Roanoke Times.


WWJWD? (cycle12 - 12/4/2006 11:12:42 AM)
With each conversation, discussion, interview, letter, etc., Jim Webb shows us what he will do in the U. S. Senate.

I repeat:  Jim Webb's the real deal; articulate, dedicated, circumspect, intelligent, thoughtful and more.

He never was a "sound bite" candidate, and that same persona will carry forward into the Senate.

These are truly exciting times...

Thanks!

Steve



Thank God! A Brain! (DanG - 12/4/2006 11:22:35 AM)
Webb continues to prove that he will use his brain in the Senate.  He may not be a "straight down the line" Democrat, but that's what I like about him.  This interview seems more fair than anything the Post has put out recently.

The Post, I think, isn't anti-Democrat, it's anti-labor.  The only reason they endorsed Webb was over the Iraq War.  Any candidate who promotes Labor issues over Free Trade gets in trouble with the Post.



Agreed, "DanG", plus... (cycle12 - 12/4/2006 12:18:15 PM)
...quite often, the news staff and the editorial staff of any media are not always on the same page.

(Pun intended...)

Thanks!

Steve



Ooh, But What About His Feelings of Enmity (Catzmaw - 12/4/2006 12:33:03 PM)
toward Robert Gates?  Remember how Robert Novak claimed Webb was raring to review the nomination because he hates Gates?  Webb must not have gotten that memo. 

The damn pundits are really getting on my last nerve, so it was a pleasure to see a really good interview without stupid questions.  It sounds relaxed and was conducted the way an interview should be, meaning it was about the interviewee and not the interviewer (are you reading this, Wolf Blitzer?).  Congrats to Peter Hardin of the RTD.



Agreed, "Catzmaw", and Webb's response... (cycle12 - 12/4/2006 12:35:57 PM)
...to that assertion was that it was untrue and that he doesn't even know Gates.

Thanks!

Steve



Pundit Accuracy (PM - 12/4/2006 1:22:06 PM)
Long ago -- 1969 to be exact -- my Diplomatic History teacher at Georgetown, Dr. Jules Davis, related the following.  He once was writing the summary of the year's events for one of the foreign policy journals and as part of his task reread the newspapers for the preceding year.  He told the class that it struck him that when he reread the pundits' predictions, very few came true.

I agree that Peter Hardin did a very good interview.  For example, the tobacco regulation question is very important to the state.